Doratora!
by Duckkun
Summary: Taiga falls asleep in Ryuuji's arms after their marriage... But what? Taiga wakes up in Ryuuji's shabby apartment, and Ryuuji lives in Taiga's high-class apartment? What is going on? Is it just Taiga's dream?... Or is it something else?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Toradora, but I do own Doratora. :3**

 **So uh, this is my first story, so... Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!**

* * *

Ryuuji held her in his arms as she started to fall asleep.

The window of their new apartment showed the night sky, letting in a beautiful moonlight.

"We're married now, aren't we?" He said softly, looking up at the stars.

"Mm..." Taiga replied.

After a moment of silence, Ryuuji spoke.

"I wonder what would've happened if we had switched places. If back then, I would've been the one in the apartment, and you would've lived in that old little place. You would've been so lost without room service."

Taiga softly punched his chest and whispered, "Don't even joke... idiot..."

Ryuuji chuckled quietly and put his hand on the orange-gold fluff of hair in his lap.

"Good night."

* * *

Taiga blinked open her eyes and rubbed them, the scene before her switching in and out of focus.

An empty instant ramen bowl sat in front of her, chopsticks still sticking out.

Her living room was composed of shabby, ridden down walls with dirty tatami mats as a floor.

The wooden table holding her recently finished noodles were riddled with countless other bowls, a few store-bought bentos, and various scratches and marks on the surface.

The corners of the room also held the remains of food items along with scattered woman's clothes; a skirt here, a bra there.

 _Is this... Ryuuji's place?_ , she thought, then blinked again and forgot all of it.

 _Ryu- who was I talking about again?_

She stared at the opposite wall for a moment before moving.

She got up slowly and walked across the room, entering the bathroom.

After flipping the light switch, she examined the room.

Tiles on the wall were corroding, some of them even missing, turning parts of the surface into a pale shade of brown.

She looked at the mirror, which was splattered with liquid marks from the time she'd tripped and spilled tea from the local vendor.

Her face had a drowsy look and the side of her mouth was stained with a drool mark.

She narrowed her eyes and wiped at the stain with her shirt.

It didn't come off.

She looked up at her hair, which had taken on the shape of a cat's hairball.

Scowling, she scuffed at it a little with her hands, but it popped right back up energetically, defining itself as Taiga's opposite and thus, her enemy.

 _Yasuko should be back soon_ , she thought, _I should get to sleep_.

She went back into the initial room and turned to look out the window.

 _It's black. Then again, its always black,_ Taiga thought with sarcastic venom.

Before, the sun would always come in and light up the room, but a huge apartment complex was built next to Yasuko and Taiga's shabby two story complex, which rendered the window useless.

The only thing one could do from the balcony was look at an enormous concrete wall and plot how to take it down, which is what Taiga did.

She had tried many times to sabotage it; she'd vandalized the place by dumping paint over the wall, she'd tried to start a petition to bring down the building, she'd even took a swing at the owner with her wooden katana and almost succeeded in taking his head off, which did not help her case in the slightest.

After a while, she gave up, resorting to hitting the wall with her sword until someone stopped her and in by doing so, almost had his head taken off.

It was going to take a lot more than killing someone to take down the building, Taiga realized.

Either way, it was pitch-black outside the window; it wasn't just the shadow of the apartment complex, it was late in the night.

Taiga knew this very well, as she had been waiting for her mom since she'd come home from school, but fell asleep after eating dinner.

From the looks of things, Yasuko wasn't back yet.

She sighed and decided to sleep early.

"She's always so late..." Taiga muttered to herself as she changed out of her school uniform.

Putting on a pair of worn pajamas, she opened a sliding door to her bedroom, which was pretty much the same as the rest of the house in terms of tidiness.

A desk filled with piles of paper and school supplies sat to the left, while a closet that had not been cleaned out in years filled the back wall.

A futon lay in the middle of the room, the area around it being the only place not cluttered with stuff.

Taiga rubbed her eyes and walked straight to the futon, getting in.

The ceiling above her quickly shifted out of focus as her eyes began to feel heavy, and she succumbed to the darkness around her.

 _Ryuu... ji..._

* * *

 _"Taiga-chan... Taiga Takasu-chan..."_

 _"Taiga-chan, can you hear meee?"_

 _"Hmm... I guess I'll have to- Hiiyah!"_

A sharp pain to Taiga's rear end sent her sprawling out onto the floor.

"Wah?!" she yelped, scrambling to her feet.

She instinctively grabbed her wooden sword and swung at the nearest figure beside her.

She heard a high pitched voice as Yasuko ducked beneath the slash.

"T-Taiga-chan! It's me!" Taiga's mother said waving her hands in the air.

Realizing who it was, Taiga faltered for a second before picking up the sword and swinging at Yasuko again.

"Wah! Taiga-chan?! It's meee!"

"I know!" Taiga replied with a grr.

"T-Then why?!" screamed Yasuko, dodging another attack.

"That's my line! Why did you slap me on the butt?!"

"Well, because-" she held up some clothes and deflected a lethal sword combo, "-because you weren't getting up!"

"So you slapped me?!" Taiga said incredulously.

"Yes!"

The pair continued to awkwardly dance around the apartment, knocking things over and throwing clothes around until finally, the scuffle ended as a draw when they both fell to their knees, exhausted.

"You're a toughie..." Yasuko said, breathing hard.

"You're horrible..." Taiga replied bluntly.

"That hurts Taiga-chan..." she whined.

"Good."

Taiga got up and looked at a clock on the wall. She sighed heavily and said, "Look, now I'm going to be late."

"Ah, oh. Sorry..."

Yasuko looked down.

She suddenly seemed beaten down, like she was exhausted.

Her hair was in clumps and she was still in her 'work' clothes.

Taiga realized that she must not have gotten much, if any sleep at all last night, yet she still had woken up Taiga in time for school.

If she stayed any longer however, she'd be late for school.

...

"Okay Yasuko, because you're so damn stinky, you need to clean yourself up in the bathroom, get ready for work, and I'll wait here for you with some hot ramen, okay?"

Her face lit up, "... Okay!" She disappeared into the bathroom and Taiga heated up some ramen in their little microwave.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryuuji Aisaka scrubbed at his carpet with violence.

He'd spent the morning trying to get rid of a purple stain made by his grape juice.

"God dammit," he said, "Why won't the stain come off? Rubbing only seems to seep the juice further in!"

He was still in the clothes he'd worn to sleep.

Originally, he was going to change, brush his teeth, and be ready for school thirty minutes early, but the moment he'd spotted the stain, he'd plopped down with his cleaning gloves and went to work.

"Errghh...!" he drove all his strength into his carpet, "Euuuuaghhhh!..."

"Tahh..."

He dropped onto all fours, breathing heavily.

"What's with this juice?!... It's like trying to clean dried paint!"

After a moment of more breathing, he got up and checked his watch...

And screamed.

"AHH! I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

He threw off his shorts and replaced it with pants.

His shirt went flying onto his bed, and he covered his torso with clothes.

Flying into the bathroom, he jammed a toothbrush into his mouth, straightened his hair, fixed his tie, admired himself in the mirror, and flew back out within a time span of thirty seconds.

Ryuuji snatched up his school bag, pocketed some money, and bashed through his door, nearly knocking it off its hinges.

He ran past the elevators and went down the stairs five steps at a time.

Reaching the ground floor, he slowed to let the automatic doors open, then immediately shot through the doors, finding a surprise on the sidewalk directly in front of him.

Ryuuji only had one glance of Taiga's surprised face before he collided with her.

* * *

 **And that's it for the first chapter!**

 **I know it was short, so when I have more up,**

 **please go and read it for me!**

 **So, if ya liked it, leave a review for me,**

 **if ya didn't like it,** **still leave a review,**

 **because everyone's opinion matters!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2! Yayy!**

 **It took a while to make, so**

 **please go ahead and enjoy**

 **for me!**

* * *

The two dropped to the ground, both of their school bags spilling out their contents.

Taiga landed on the curb, and Ryuuji fell back on his rear-end.

"Ow...!" Ryuuji exclaimed, his eyes closed.

He felt at his lower back, opened his eyes, and looked up.

There, he saw a tiger.

It stared at him sharply, like it was thinking carefully about how to react to this new blue-haired prey.

Ryuuji froze at the sight, and something screamed "RUN!" inside him, like he knew what was about to happen in the next instant.

The tiger lifted her bag silently, but with a penetrating motion, and drove it into the side of Ryuuji's head.

Luckily, most of the contents were left on the floor, so the impact had little force, but it still jarred him.

He fell sideways and stayed there for a moment, still stunned.

He heard the tiger pick herself up and walk away.

"Watch where you're going next time, mutt." It, or she, snarled at Ryuuji.

Ryuuji turned in her direction and watched her walk off a bit.

"W-who was that...?"

He felt the place he'd been hit, picked himself up and began to refill his bag with school supplies when he noticed there were two notebooks of the same kind.

One of them had "Ryuuji Aisaka" on the front, and the other read "Taiga Takasu".

 _Wait a moment... Don't tell me this is that girl's..._ Ryuuji cursed himself.

 _Should I return it?_ He thought, _but that girl was way too violent... She hit a person she just met!_

"Maybe I should just leave it here..." Ryuuji thought out loud with an evil tint in his voice.

"... Like I can do that."

He took both of them, stood up, and continued walking to school... until half a minute later, when he realized that he was going to be late.

He began to run so fast, a police car would've flagged him down for speeding.

* * *

 _What a guy,_ Taiga thought, _he didn't even say sorry after dashing straight into me... Now my uniform's all dirty!_

She let out an annoyed sigh as she contemplated on how she was going to wash her clothes.

 _That stupid dog! Who was that guy? It looked like he lived in that dumb apartment._

She turned the corner that led to the school and prepared to put on her blank face.

One of her rules in school was to never show her true emotions on her face.

She acted cold to everyone and was called the Palmtop Tiger.

There was only one person that she could trust with her thoughts, however.

Her name was Minori Kushieda.

The Palmtop Tiger, famous for her dangerous and ferocious attacks in spite of her size, dazed out and began to think about her only best friend.

"Minorin~"

Suddenly, Taiga was knocked out of her thoughts by a yelling teacher as she entered the school.

"Hey, you! Why are you late? Let me guess, were you-" he stopped and looked in closer, "... Hiii! Don't tell me, you're.. you're the Palmtop Tiger?!"

Taiga shot a threatening glance at him, her eyes glinting.

"What do you want?" she asked coldly.

"Ah... nothing! Just, uh, go along your day... your highness!"

Taiga smiled, liking the title, and continued into the school.

As she headed towards her class, she thought about the boy that ran into her.

Something about him had caught her off guard for a second.

His eyes looked like the eyes of a dead fish, but he exhibited so much feeling into his actions...

He seemed like Taiga's opposite, and what's worse, he was wearing the same uniform as her school's.

If he went to her school...

Taiga wouldn't know what to do.

She walked halfway up a flight of stairs, until she started hearing the pounding of feet behind her.

Suddenly, Ryuuji shot past her like a bullet and sent her spinning out of control.

"Sorry!" he yelled behind him, not realizing who it was that he had flown past.

Taiga, still spinning, slowly regained her balance, but her eyes were still swirling.

"Whaaa...?" she said, "..."

"... Th- That guy..."

Her fist was held up and clenched.

Her eyebrows twitched with anger.

"I..." The words seethed out of her teeth, "I'm going to teach that animal a lesson...!"

* * *

The lunch bell rang, signaling the end of Mrs. Koigabuko's depressing rant.

Ryuuji got out of his seat and tapped his friend, Yuusaku Kitamura, on the shoulder.

The people Kitamura had been talking to backed away, practically falling over their seats, scared of Ryuuji's delinquent eyes.

Kitamura turned around and said, "Oh, yo, what's up?"

"Let's go get lunch." Ryuuji said, each word causing a flinch in the spectators' posture.

"Okay, sounds good to me."

He rose up from his seat and the two walked out the door.

"Kitamura, be careful...!" A student whispered from behind them.

"Hahaha, don't worry! Aisaka isn't someone to be worried about!"

"If you say so..."

A moment later, Ryuuji was walking through the halls with Kitamura.

"Nah, I'm sure the misunderstanding will clear up soon."

"I don't know..."

"Trust me! If it doesn't by itself, I'll go and do it."

"Hm... Alright, I'll trust you, I just need a little hope, I guess."

They were talking about Ryuuji's deceased fish eyes that made him look like some menacing hoodlum.

Every time he entered a new school, those eyes that his mother gave him would give the complete wrong first impression; everyone would mark him as a delinquent the moment they saw him.

The pair continued to walk down the hall, other students keeping away from Ryuuji's grasps.

After a few seconds of silence, Ryuuji brought up Taiga.

"So, this morning, I accidentally ran into this girl on my way out of my apartment."

"Yeah? Did you apologize?"

"Well, I tried, but she got really mad and hit me with her bag."

"Hit _you_? Haha! I would've thought she'd be afraid of you because of your eyes!"

"I don't know, but- hey! That's kind of rude now that I think about it!"

"Okay, okay, sorry, but seriously, you might want to apologize."

"... Alright. I'll do it."

"That's the Aisaka I know."

"So I guess I'll just wait at her apartment and-"

Suddenly, Kitamura gasped and said, "Mi-chan!"

Aisaka looked in front of him and saw two girls.

The first one was Minori Kushieda, a girl he'd rarely seen before, and each time, she was always yelling enthusiastically.

The other one he saw second, because she was so short.

Her rich, golden-brown hair curled down her shoulders and her light almond eyes pointed up at Aisaka with spite.

Taiga stood in front of him.

Slowly, the two recognized each other, but they stayed frozen in eye contact.

"Yuu-chan!" Kushieda said.

Kitamura and Kushieda ran to each other and embraced.

After a couple seconds of awkward silence between Taiga and Ryuuji as well as an over-the-top couple's hug between Kitamura and Kushieda, Kitamura said, "Huh? Aisaka, why are you so quiet? Oh yeah, I didn't tell you, I'm dating Mi-chan now, you know her, right? Minori Kushieda?"

"Aww, it's so embarrassing when you say my full name, candy-pie!" Kushieda said.

Kitamura turned back, "Oh, really? I'm sorry sugary-bumps! I won't next time, then."

"No, but its embarrassing in a good way!"

"Ah, really?"

"Yes, I don't even care what you call me, as long as we're together."

"... I love you so much, chicken-cream!..."

The pair touched foreheads and giggled lightheartedly.

In the background, Taiga and Ryuuji both yelled, "... AH, IT'S YOU!", pointing fingers at each other.

"Wh- what are _you_ doing here?!" Taiga asked frantically.

"You too! Why are you here?!"

"Are you trying to stalk me or something?!"

"Who's would want to stalk you?!"

"You!"

"Don't decide something like that without my consent!"

"Oh, so you _have_ a consent to be a stalker, huh?!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then what _did_ you mean?!"

"Argh!"

The two grappled with each other, their hands pushing against one another.

Kushieda leaned in and said, "Um, do you two... know each other?"

"NO!" They both screamed back, then immediately faltered as they saw Kitamura and Kushieda together.

"Wait, Kitamura has a girlfriend?!" Ryuuji said.

"Wait, Minorin has a boyfriend?!" Taiga mimicked him.

The dating couple said excitedly, "Yep! We are lovely dovey~!"

"Also, did I just hear you two call each other 'chicken-cream?'"

"Yeah! Isn't it so romantic and lovely?"

Taiga and Ryuuji looked at them, dumbfounded.

"Uh, yeah..."

"Oh, that reminds me! We're going to eat together on the roof, right?"

"Ah, I completely forgot! Sorry, Mi-chan!"

"No, it's okay froggy-fighter, we can still go."

"Mi-chan... I love you, tiny-bug!"

They ran off with each other, climbing stairs to the roof.

Taiga and Ryuuji looked at each other in a mutual feeling of bewilderment.

Then, they realized that they'd been fighting a second ago and Taiga reverted back to a hostile stance.

"Heh?... So you're Kitamura's friend, huh?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's just, you're below him."

"Hey! You want to fight, froggy-fighter?!"

…

The tiger and her new dog scoffed once, and started laughing together.

"B-bring it on, tiny-bug! Haha!"

They laughed until their guts were hurting.

When they stopped, Ryuuji remembered something.

"Oh, Takasu, I have something for you."

"... Me..?"

Ryuuji reached into his bag and pulled out Taiga's notebook.

"When I crashed into you this morning, this dropped out of your bag."

"...Huh..."

She quickly reverted back to her wary attitude and snatched the book out of his hands.

"I'm not gonna say thanks, got it? It's your fault I lost it in the first place."

"Yeah, yeah, I didn't expect one. I'm sorry about that crash-"

Suddenly, loud growling noise emitted from one of their stomachs, and they immediately fell silent.

"...W-was that you...?" Ryuuji asked.

"N-no." Taiga turned red.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

Ryuuji heard another growl from Taiga's stomach and said, "Do you... want to get something to eat?"

She looked down, her flushed face covered by her hair, and said softly, "Fine."

* * *

It was seven o'clock, and Taiga had just finished her microwaveable fishcakes.

She went into her room and changed out of her uniform.

 _Maybe that Aisaka guy might not be too bad,_ she thought, a _t least he treated me to lunch..._

Inko-chan, the parakeet, screeched, "Bad! Bad!" as Taiga walked back into the main room.

"Shut up, Inko-chan."

"Shut! Shut! Shut!" It replied.

She walked over to the cage, leaned in menacingly, and pointed her finger at Inko.

"Shut. Up."

Inko didn't talk for the rest of the night.

 _Still, I wonder if Aisaka lives in that apartment building._

Taiga walked out onto the veranda and looked through the nearest window on the concrete wall in front of her.

The lights were on inside, and she heard a faint humming.

Then, the humming became louder as she heard a door open and footsteps coming closer.

She was about to turn back when Ryuuji, faced away from Taiga, stepped in front of the window, and dried his hair with a small towel.

He'd just taken a shower, and, naturally, he was unclothed from head to toe.

Blood rushed to Taiga's face and she said, "NA... NAH... WHAT IS THIS?!"

Ryuuji jumped and turned to see the girl outside his window that had just picked up a sharp pencil.

She hurled it at Ryuuji's eyes and he ducked just in time.

"T-Takasu?!"

"How- how d-dare you s-show me t-that unsightly body..."

"Um, Takasu? Taiga Takasu... chan?"

"H-HOW DARE YOU?!"

She fast-balled a pan at him, then chucked a fork.

She continuously threw as many dangerous objects as she could find until Ryuuji's floor was basically a minefield.

"Stupid dog!"

"I'm sorry! Okay?!"

"Say that after you get hit by one of these!"

"I'll die before I can say it!"

A fire extinguisher flew by his head.

"Then say it while you're dead!"

"That's impossible...!"

 _Never mind... I hate this guy!_ Taiga thought.

"Stupid Ryuuji!"

"Don't call me by my first name!"

"Shut up! A master has every right to call her dog whatever she wants!"

"I'm not your dog! I'm a human being!"

"That's enough jokes now, Ryuuji!"

"IT'S NOT A JOOOKKKKEEE!"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading Chapter 2!**

 **Chapter 3 will be up soon, or if you're reading this from the**

 **future, it is already up!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, it's been a while. Sorry this was delayed for so long, and it's really short.**

 **I still plan to continue this series, so stay tuned for more.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Ryuuji, seconds, now!" Taiga demanded.

"Isn't this your 3rd bowl?!" The male high schooler asked.

"Yeah, so what?"

"So, when are you going to stop stealing my food?"

"Well, you made it for me, so it isn't stealing."

"That's not true, I made it for you _and_ Yasuko-san."

Yasuko smiled happily through her chewing and said, "I'm glad I got off early today, I get to eat Ryu-chan's cooking!"

"Don't get too spoiled, Yasuko. He's only a dog servant, who knows when he's going to become a runaway?"

"Like I said, I'm not a dog! And if I was one, I wouldn't run away from you, I'd bite you and chase you off."

"Huh?!" she replied with failed sarcasm that seeped anger, " _You_ would bite me? You already agreed to do anything for me, didn't you?"

"When did I do that?! In some alternate universe, maybe, but not this one!"

"Yeah, you did! After you found out that I liked-" Taiga suddenly paused, anger emptying her, "Alternate... Universe..."

"Do you not know what an alternate universe is?"

"Of course I do, dumbass! In fact, I wish I was in one right now where I didn't meet you!" The anger flew back to her face.

"Same here! Why would I ever want to be friends with someone who whacks me in the face at our first meeting?!"

"Hmph! It seemed like you enjoyed it though, you masochist!"

"If that's so, then you're a damn sadist!"

"What did you ju-?!"

Suddenly, Yasuko gave a huge yawn and fell back onto Ryuuji's carpet, "I'm going to... catch up on lost sleep... now..." She began snoring like a drag racing car.

"..." The two teenagers stared blankly.

Then, Taiga realized something, "Oh no, am I going to have to carry her back...?"

"Probably," said Ryuuji, "so, have fun... I guess."

Taiga looked up at him, "Yeah. _We're_ going to have fun."

* * *

"Ow ow ow! Watch it, dog!"

"Whoah, whoah! Is that what you say to someone that's helping you carry your own mom down the stairs?!"

"No, but that's what I say that to my dog servant!"

"Again with tha- Uwaagh!" Yasuko suddenly stretched her arms out and almost sent Ryuuji tumbling down the staircase with a bruise on his face.

"Ryuuji! Don't let go of her!"

"A little hard to hold on when there's a woman's armpit in your face!"

"Wha-?! You pervert! Get away from Yasuko!"

"Hey, do you want me to help you or not?!"

"Yes…!"

"Then make up your mind!"

"Fine…"

They reached the end of the stairs and half-tumbled out into the night.

"...Hahh…" Taiga breathed heavily.

"Why is your mom so damn heavy?" Ryuuji managed to say through his gasps of air.

Taiga scoffed and said, "It's probably all her chest. Those big… melons are weighing her down. Those huge things…"

She put her hands on her own. "Those ginormous bowling balls…! The ones that weren't passed down to me…!"

"Um… Taiga-?"

"BREASTS!" She yelled in Ryuuji's face, suddenly lurching over Yasuko.

Ryuuji pulled back and planted his hand on Taiga's crazed expression, pushing her back.

"Mu-fuu! Yoh-dugifugi!"

He let go and Taiga glared at him, her hair flying up, a red hand print stuck on her face.

"Ah, hehe…" Ryuuji chuckled nervously, "Uh, Taiga…?"

The next moment, Taiga was dragging her mom to their shabby apartment alone while Ryuuji was crumpled on the floor, scratch marks all over his face.

"She's definitely… a tiger…"

* * *

The next morning, Taiga and Ryuuji walked to school together a little awkwardly.

Minori, waiting at her usual spot for Taiga, suddenly spoke up, "Taigaaa!"

She came running at her friend with a flying tackle-hug and Ryuuji saw Taiga disappear under Minori.

"Moff-!" She yelled under the red haired girl.

"Taiga! Why didn't you tell me you were with Aisaka-san?!" she looked at Ryuuji and winked, turning back to Taiga, "You're finally growing up now, huh?" She ruffled Taiga's hair into a mess, then bounded over to Ryuuji.

She smiled and said, "It's really nice and all that your being that person for Taiga, but, uh," her face suddenly became dark with shadows, " _ **if you hurt her in anyway, I'll kill you**_ ," she penetrated Ryuuji's earlobe with her whispers.

He shivered once and backed off, "Uh- I mean, yes ma'am!"

"Cool! Then everything's okay, right?" She replied, back to her normal tone.

"Yes!"

Taiga, still stunned from Minori's hair treatment, snapped out of it and walked over to the two.

"Minori, make sure not to get too close to this guy, okay?"

"Eh? Why not?" She asked.

"He's a pervert. He likes smelling older women's armpits."

Immediately, Minori materialized before Ryuuji and put her nose on his. " _ **What did you do to my angel…?**_ " She asked in the same, menacing whisper from before.

Ryuuji backed up as suddenly as he could, waving his arms in the air.

"N-nothing! I didn't do anything!"

Her face melting back into the amused face she had before, Minori quickly returned to a more pleasant stature and said, "Good! As long as you understand, _**right?**_ ", the last word creeping out of her mouth like black smoke.

Ryuuji quickly nodded his head in response and Minori smiled.

"Well then, shall we go to school?" she asked. Ryuuji agreed while Taiga looked at the two strangely.

"You guys are weird..." Taiga said, and the group departed.

* * *

It was sunset when Taiga exited the school building.

The day had gone by quickly; she, Ryuuji, Minori, and Yuusaku had eaten lunch together like usual, and now they were all pretty much a big part of Taiga's life.

After that, she half-slept through classes until it was over, only to bitterly recall being chosen for after-school duty.

She had to clean up the classroom and worst of all, clean the board.

Her feet almost slipped trying to balance on one of the tables she'd pulled over to stand on just to reach the top of the board.

So Taiga continued down the path that led to the school gate as the golden-red sunset filled in through the air.

She breathed in, taking in the air, and closed her eyes.

The past month to her had been amazing, although she would never admit it herself.

Before, the only friend Taiga had was Minori, and now, she was suddenly surrounded by people she admired, loved, and didn't mind being around.

And she exhaled, letting the soft air out, feeling as though she were engulfed by a blanket of warmth.

Then as she passed the gates, her eyes still closed, she walked into something soft.

"Uff." Taiga made a noise.

"Hey." Ryuuji said nervously, placing his hand on Taiga's head, which was buried in his stomach. Taiga looked up, and to Ryuuji's surprise, she didn't seem angry.

"Ryuuji." She replied, "Why are you still here?"

"Ah, I had some free time, so I ended up waiting for you."

"You waited for me?"

"Yeah, what did I just say? I also figured we could talk about dinner tonight."

"But didn't you say you hated that?"

"Well, once in awhile is fine… I mean, the company is always…" Ryuuji's cheeks tinted pink and he avoided Taiga's eyes, "What I'm trying to say is that - before you guys, it's always just been me at home. My apartment is clean, but it's also empty, and sometimes… it gets a little too empty."

"..." Taiga leaned in a little, listening.

"And, uh, basically, I seem to enjoy having you guys around, so…" he paused, "I would be happy if you could join me for dinner tonight."

Taiga blushed and turned away for a moment, then flipped back around with a failed snobby expression, "Of course you enjoy having me around. Hmph, you're my dog!"

"Yeah yeah," Ryuuji said, fully aware that Taiga was embarrassed,"Dog or not, you won't miss out on one of my dinners."

"... That's true."

"Haha," Ryuuji laughed, "Come on, let's go."

And so the pair walked off into the sunset, dragon and tiger beginning to bond.

The path ahead was clear, but it was rough.

Farther down, a foreboding fork in the road split their paths.

* * *

 **So, hope you enjoyed!**

 **Once again, I'll be continuing this, I'm on break now so I can write more.**


End file.
